Live from the Samsung SMART Studio at CES 2013, rap artist Xzibit discusses using technology to interact directly with fans and reveals details about his new international tour.

Representing the Monster Products family at his third CES — and being the face of Monster Game — Xzibit is excited to announce that they'll be releasing their first standalone gaming headphones in conjunction with EA Sports.

"They're very innovative and they bring a lot of 'wow' factor with it," he says of Monster. "And I'm part of that, man. It's good to be a part of the Monster family."

The audio gear has 36,000 points of sound in it, which Xzibit notes is beyond surround sound. "You need this to get ahead in the game," he says of Monster's "pure Monster sound." "They've taken their intensity and passion for music and put it into the gaming headphones," he continues. Sounds perfect for any hardcore gamer — like Xzibit himself!

When he announces that he's first-person shooter, this elicits a delighted squee from our previous guest and gaming queen, iJustine (check out her CES interview here!) They can bond over Call of Duty, Halo, Black Ops 2 and all of that good stuff.

But deep down, we all know Xzibit is really a music man, and he has his own insights into how the industry is changing at lightning speed. "Music is free," he throws out there, unable to deny the digital trend. So, as an artist, "How can you bring your fans in and make them feel as though they are having an exclusive experience with you?" Since social media cut out the middle man, he believes the artist is responsible for leading more directly engaging forms of marketing and merchandising.

Xzibit has appeared at 2013 CES with Moster Headphones to promote their latest range of Gaming Headphones. To showcase the new headphone models, Monster brought out a host of partnered celebrities and fashion brands.

More than any other consumer-friendly audio company, Monster Cables has always had an immaculate sense of branding. Since the first company teamed up with Dr. Dre to create the Beats by Dre product line, Monster has positioned itself as the most iconic brand for seemingly high-end headphones and audio equipment for the average music fan that likes a lot of bass.

Xzibit tweeted some pictures before and during the event including the following:

There’s a lot of musicians that have their names associated with headphones, especially with Monster headphones. The Monster Tron T1 headphones may not have his name attached to them, but Xzibit is the celebrity that’s spending his time hyping them up.

X-to-the-Z is working closely with Monster for all it’s gaming lineup (as part of the Monster Game brand), and the T1 headphones are just the first of that line. Xzibit claims there’ll be more to come by the end of 2012 including controllers and game-specific HDMI cables. Unfortunately those headphones have been delayed several times over as Monster has had to tweak the design quite a bit over the past year, the aesthetics are about the same, however.

With the T1 headphones the big deal is that it will give you more precise locations of sound. So, as Xzibit put it, you can hear when someone is to your right but above you compared to other headphones where you might just hear them to your right. It would theoretically give you an advantage in shooters like Modern Warfare 3 compared to someone who would be using Turtle Beach headphones, for example. Or, as Xzibit put it: “why be a Turtle when you can be a Monster?”

Of course, you can also use the T1 headphones for listening to music. They actually ship as standard headphones, and turn into gaming headphones with the additional Game Box mixer. The sound, from the few times I’ve listened to the headphones since they were announced, it pretty great even for music, plus they looks cool when they light up.